NEW YEAR MEETS PACK IN THE CLASSICS

Events kick 2022 off across the country – but the UK’S biggest meet is called off due to COVID

Hundreds of classic owners across the UK started 2022 by taking their cars to New Year meets, despite the rising numbers of COVID cases.

The event set to be the UK’S biggest 1 January event, a classic meet at Brooklands Museum, was called off due to the development of the Omicron variant, with a new meet now scheduled for 16 April. However, meets did go ahead at The Phoenix Inn at Hartley Wintney, Haselbury Mill in Somerset and the Ace Cafe in London.

One of the biggest meets was Vintage Stony, which took over the High Street and public car parks in Stony Stratford, Buckinghamshire, with more than 200 classics taking part and showgoers helping to raise funds for Willen Hospice.

The event’s organising committee chairman, David Storer, said: ‘It’s gone incredibly well this year – a lot better than we could have hoped for. The High Street was packed with classics, and pre-war and military vehicles. ‘While there are some people who won’t have come because of concerns over COVID, we’ve been overwhelmed with the number of entries. I’d say, if anything, it’s busier than the last event that we had two years ago.’

Meanwhile, dozens of classics filled the car park at the Corner House pub in Lancashire for its long-running New Year meet. However, the event’s organisers have said that they may have to find a new venue next year, as a planning application to demolish the 19th-century pub in Wrightington and replace it with nine houses has been submitted to West Lancashire Borough Council.

Organiser, David Lawson, told Classic Car Weekly: ‘We’ve been here for a total of ten years now and it’s really great to see that the meet is still as popular as ever, but in truth I’ve had enough now.

‘We want a change of direction so we’re hoping to sell the venue, but we don’t know how long everything will take so we may still be here next year.’